India has been placed as the globe's seventh most valued 'nation brand' in 2015, moving up one notch from eighth position in 2014. With an increase of 32 per cent in its brand value to USD 2.137 billion (from USD 1.621 in 2014), , according to Brand Finance, which brought out its annual report on the world's most valuable nation brands in October 2015.

When considering issues in the Middle East, Americans need to review culture, history and religion. Those are the perspectives Eytan Gilboa, the chair and academic director of the Israel Public Diplomacy Forum, will challenge Tucsonans to adopt at three local presentations this week. 

The interactions between environmental issues and faith are evolving, as religious leaders weigh in to guide actions of the faithful on climate change. Buddhist leaders expressed support and lofty expectations for the Paris climate talks at the end of November.

Gonzaga University alumna Christi Anne Hofland (’05) is leading an experiment in U.S. international relations at the center of a volatile geopolitical drama. As director of the newly opened America House cultural center here, Hofland combines her passions for cultural diplomacy and people-to-people engagement.

The first World Indigenous Games is underway in Palmas, Brazil, having kicked off on October 23. Also billed as the Indigenous Olympics, the games include 2,000 athletes from dozens of Brazilian tribes, as well as indigenous groups from 22 other countries—from the United States and Russia, to New Zealand and Ethiopia.

“This will be the start of a relationship based on culture, diplomacy, and revolution. We hope to serve as an international example,” Talebzadeh explained, noting that the treatment of African Americans at the hands of police is important to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. [...]  Talebzadeh labeled the conference the “beginning of a cultural revolution and resistance and an international model for public diplomacy.”

The dominant perception is that the TPP is the commitment of the United States to Asian-Pacific relations, as well as an assertion of America’s trade and security rules and norms in a region increasingly influenced by China. This perception works well to positively influence the U.S’ Asian partners. But for its North American partners, Mexico in particular, the U.S’ rhetoric is different.